A Chaesmas Story (Christmas)
by fenta beauty kisses
Summary: A 2018 Christmas starts off perfectly for Son Chaeyoung and Im Nayeon when they confess for each other. Momo can't handle it however, and she plans to have Chaeyoung all to herself by the time 2019 rolls around, everyone else be damned.
1. Prologue Stepping Off

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5f2cae171c6192fa410df4385f7218aa"u style="box-sizing: border-box;"Prologue/u/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="510db661a747c5dfa63688b43a619759"[18th of December, 2019]/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="3554125724eb8a7a36014d373be86025"Momo grasped Chaeyoung's waist even tighter, and Chaeyoung's eyes grew more pleading. "You have to let go Momo, they're going to see," Chaeyoung's voice was quiet and cracked, stifling cries./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="fb0bf47e3ee4277db82921d98bb7f2e4""Then tell me what I want to hear. What em style="box-sizing: border-box;"you/em know you want to say," Momo said more firmly this time, somehow holding Chaeyoung's waist even tighter. Their faces were so close Chaeyoung could smell the peppermint candies she gave Momo just 20 minutes ago. Chaeyoung winced at how strong Momo's grip was, looking mournfully into her eyes as Nayeon's familiar voice edged closer to their empty dorm room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="3a92254caa5613f4b2b2b81b90038086"Nayeon: Chaeyoung's girlfriend./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="79bd07b7bddab38614d988850957459f"u style="box-sizing: border-box;"Stepping Off/u/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="49b8ce579823a0863ad587331378e2da"[18th of December, 2018]/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="955715513de5077bc2c2dca91677040f"All 9 girls collectively sighed as they stepped off the train and onto pavement. Tzuyu stretched out her arms and accidentally belted Dahyun in the stomach, who turned and let out a groan./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="ef363f7501b0a17e6278b5f2b2de2602""That's gonna hurt tonight," she said sheepishly, Tzuyu profusely apologized while Jeongyeon stifled a laugh. Accident or not, Jeongyeon always had a thing for slapstick humor. There was an incredible silence followed by a hiss and thump of train doors closing, when the girls realized they were the only ones to get off. All around them were fir trees and a cold, closing mist they'd come to get used to. The train station was completely desolate except for them, and seemed to lead nowhere. The sun was nowhere in sight – instead, a light red hue accented the sky, and seemingly in tandem the girls all looked and sighed. Comeback season was over, if only for a brief two weeks. It was a miracle that JYP had even gotten them such an amount of time away from hectic tour life. It only made sense that every fibre of their being was sapped, and that red hue only served as yet another reminder that they needed this break. And frankly, they deserved it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="9367bcb45d02fad262aeacfd0a3abadd"Jihyo was the first to break the silence: "Well, we were supposed to get here at 6:00, but it's 5:40. The driver will probably honk when he's here, so just hang out for like 20 minutes, alright? And remember, no choreo."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a3800766ca52951e2ed3c10468f5d7bd"It was their running joke that as soon as they stepped out of the train, they'd be off work. Mina visibly smirked. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"As if/em, she thought. With every waking moment spent on perfecting something, she knew it would take some practice to not practice for Once. Some of the girls giggled and went back to what they were talking about on the train. Sana was showing Dahyun a video sent by her friend; Jeongyeon, Mina, and Tzuyu continued their game of never ending Rock Paper Scissors; Jihyo sat on the one of the benches and visibly shivered before settling down and trying to get some sleep. Momo followed suit, nestling herself in her scarf before putting her head on Jihyo's shoulder./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="bcea34c6e8da6470ffe30e655a148382"Chaeyoung had been quiet for the course of the train ride, uncharacteristically so. Most members assumed she was enjoying some quiet time, but Nayeon unnie took one glance and saw her best friend in pain. It had been hard enough to get her to open up, but now that she had everything they did together felt more awkward. They knew about each other, but the other members didn't know about them – it was easier this way. But why was it still so tough to deal with?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6f4a8d55472ca102384b89810ec6768a"They glanced at each other and both realized the other didn't want to talk. Fine by them. They sat opposite to Jihyo, and after a moment Chaeyoung rested her head on Nayeon's shoulder, mimicking Momo. Nayeon stiffened, Chaeyoung could feel it. That gave her all the information she needed. It only took a few seconds for Nayeon to notice and make an effort to relax her shoulder, but by that time Chaeyoung was out like a light./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0c31e41e184cee323d60b2ce733be16a"It only took 5 minutes until she was nestled from sleep by a horn./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p 


	2. Night in the Village (first kiss)

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"wow, congrats to Momo on getting a man! i guess this story makes slightly less sense, but the show must go on! Praying for a great 2020 for the girls!/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"=======/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""I think I've fallen in love," Nayeon croons, staring at a clothing display. Chaeyoung and Nayeon stood outside a BENCH store, and the top Nayeon was looking at specifically had a loose fitting shoulder and a Christmas tree embroidered on front with some tacky festive lights attached to embroidery./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"The van had dropped them off at the local village to give them time to drop off all the luggage at the house, and it was more festive than they had expected. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""With who, yourself?" Chaeyoung answered, deciding to have a little fun with Nayeon before they had to go back. She needed to break the ice. She had something she wanted to say. Nayeon registered what she just heard and realized that the window's icy sheen meant she could easily see both of them reflected off of it. Nayeon took the opportunity to try to break the ice with Chaeyoung. She had something she wanted to say./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""No dummy, I'm talking about you," Nayeon looks at Chaeyoung's reflection and gives her an effortless wink. For the same second, both of their hearts stopped beating. It grew awkward after Chaeyoung didn't do much past give her a nervous chuckle. They stopped and looked at each other; Chaeyoung had to make a conscious effort to not bounce her leg, and Nayeon took the time to think about where her hands were. As long as they weren't playing with her earlobe she knew Chaeyoung didn't suspect that she meant it. Chaeyoung thought the same thing, and lost in both their thoughts they stared at each other's reflection for another 10 seconds before one gained the courage to make a move. [description of both]/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Chaeyoung linked their arms rather hastily and started walking away from the store, making a mental note what street they were on to come back later. Nayeon tried to come up with something to say, some funny quip to put Chaeyoung (and herself) at ease. But she was coming up blank./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Think/em em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Nayeon, how do you usually act when there's a lull in conversation? I can't just pick comments whenever I can't think of anything like our VLives./em She winced, remembering a recent VLive where it was just the both of them. It wouldn't have looked uncomfortable to ONCE (she knows, she watched it multiple times after it aired) but she was having a harder time than usual keeping up her usual attitude. Chaeyoung couldn't have noticed it, the short glances and the way her eyes lit up hearing light chuckles at her immature jokes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Chaeyoung noticed Nayeon lost in her thoughts and decided that it was time to tell her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Nayeon," Chaeyoung simply stated, bringing Nayeon out of her bad dream, "there's something I have to tell you." The end of her sentence trailed off as she focused on what she was walking towards – the snow lazily falling around them seemed to have finally stuck, and it being 8 PM, the square they were so used to walking by for the past 2 days of their vacation looked properly Christmassy. A modestly-sized tree had luminescent balls of green and red and white that burned your retinas if you looked at them too long, that reflected off of a thin-white ground that served to lighten up an admittedly darkening night. American Christmas tunes played as about a dozen couples walked around or sat on snow-covered benches as general traffic frittered through to different streets, most likely looking for a drink or a quick half-assed present. Chaeyoung had sucked in a huge breath to release everything she had planned to say, but she let it out in a frosty sigh and instead said "I'll tell you when we get to the tree"./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Nayeon had gone from reminiscing about what she could have done different, where she had gone wrong, to feeling nervous that Chaeyoung was about to say something, devastated that she didn't, and elated about what getting to the tree had to do with anything. All that eventually culminated in a feeling of regret. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Why didn't I say anything sooner? Why couldn't I be more like her? /emIf she was alone and in a place of warmth, she might have cried; alas, she was in the cold with the person she loved./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"The tension was palpable by the time they reached the tree, each slight crunch their footsteps made sounded louder to both of them. Chaeyoung less so, she wasn't going to lose this beautiful opportunity, let this go on any longer./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Nayeon," Chaeyoung's voice was lighter than the fragile snowflakes falling lightly around them. She looked into Nayeon's eyes and saw a kaleidoscope of red, green, and white reflecting off of tears building up, and knew she had to say it:/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""I love you," Nayeon finished, with a light kiss planted on Chaeyoung's lips./p 


	3. Momo

happy new years to everybody, hope you're having a great break! tell me what you like - or what you don't :( - in my e-mail. otherwise, enjoy!

The van came around 20 minutes later a block from the square, to take them to their home for the next 2 weeks. Chaeyoung and Nayeon were esctatic. Momo was confused.

"Wow, check this place out," was the first thing out of Jeongyeon's mouth when they stepped through. Immediately they felt a cushion of heat envelop their red toes and fingers and cheeks.

"Don't forget to unpack and brush your teeth everyone," Jihyo mumbled, visibly struck with a desire to sleep. "There are three rooms upstairs, pick whatever."

At this point, her words were drawling and everyone else was starting to feel the effects of the long day behind them and the effortlessly warm air around them. Sana let out the first yawn, followed by Mina, then Tzuyu. Without another word from Jihyo (who had already left), all members offered various forms of goodbye and goodnight, and they all went upstairs without much fuss. Jihyo was the first to a room, and since Tzuyu and Mina didn't much care where they slept, they went in with her. Dahyun, Sana, and Jeongyeon followed suit into the next room. The third room, opposite the first two, which were adjacent to each other, was therefore reserved for Nayeon, Chaeyoung, and Momo.

Hand in hand, the new couple walked in to inspect their room, a cloudy Momo behind them.

"Check it out, we've got our own bathroom in here," Chaeyoung exclaimed, letting go of Nayeon's hand to check out where all the doors led to, "look, a closet!"

Nayeon kept up the enthusiasm: "and we've got room to spare, 2 sets of bunk beds," Nayeon shouted, as if it wasn't obvious as soon as you walked in the room. Momo looked around the room to see if there was anything she could say that hadn't been said already. Like the other 8 girls, her eyes would glaze over the finer details of the Christmas decorations that littered the place (they'd all somehow missed the Christmas tree downstairs) but she did see some string lights.

"Wow, check it out, Christmas lights," she said with hurt in her voice. The others would hear sleepiness however, and they all quieted down to let Hirai Momo get a good sleep. Just like at the train station, Chaeyoung's body was limp the minute she got in bed, but both Nayeon and Momo would engage with their thoughts for the next few minutes.

Nayeon's thoughts were scatterbrained, but all-around positive. We won't look too deeply at her's. Momo's however, were strained. How could this be happening? I'm letting Chaeyoung slip my fingers this easily? She tormented herself and her lack of action. If I knew she was gay, she stopped herself. She didn't want to finish. If I knew she was gay, she let out a breath, I could have had her instead of Nayeon. She glanced at Chaeyoung's short, slender frame and imagined it under the tree at the square again. Except this time, instead of Nayeon's luminescent tears eyes Chaeyoung was looking at, it was hers. She was walking out of a candy store with a piece of lavender chocolate already halfway into her mouth when she saw them. Thankfully Jihyo was still inside, but her mind immediately scrambled to make sense of what she just saw. Did they really just kiss? She looked again, closer. They were looking at each other still, no kiss to be made out. She was about to call it a trick of light when she saw Chaeyoung lean in slightly, and could only watch for a second more until she burst back into the store and slammed into Jihyo, who was carrying her own festive delights.

"Holy God Momo, what happened? Is there someone outside? Do we have to go?" Jihyo frantically asked as she knelt to pick up her's and Momo's sweets. Momo was still on the floor, on the verge of tears. She couldn't let Jihyo see, she just couldn't. Momo recalled that she said it was cold outside, and realized how flimsy of an excuse that was. She prayed Jihyo wouldn't ask her about it tomorrow. She tried recalling more, but even the woes of hours past couldn't keep her up after a long day of travel. Chaeyoung shifted slightly and Momo realized she'd been staring too long, so she turned around and called it for that night.

19th of December, 2018, 9:00 A.M.:

"Come onnn, let's try just one," Dahyun sat beside Tzuyu downstairs. They were the only two up at 9 in the morning, and the only two privy to the wonderland they left unappreciated last night. Streamer lights decorated the living room, as well as a modest selection of candles, one of which Tzuyu has taken the liberty to light and place on the dining table (spearmint). DVDs were stacked in two piles in front of a large projector of popular American Christmas films and animations. A modest Christmas tree sat at the edge of the room but was the first thing that drew your attention. It seemed to have been specially ordered by JYPE because it had pictures of TWICE concerts that took place that year, as well as at least 3 dozen Christmas cards. Dahyun's cursory glance at one revealed that they were written by ONCE for the occasion, so she was beyond excited to see what words of love ONCE had written them. A few small presents were gathered at the bottom of the tree, and they seemed to be from JYPE staff, as there was one from the man himself under the tree.

"No, we'll wait until the others wake up."

Dahyun pouted.

"And that's final."

"You really don't want to see what ONCE wrote? There's even one addressed directly to you, Chou Tzuyu," Dahyun pointed near the top of tree

"It'll be more fun when all the members are here, so we can go through them all one by one," Tzuyu countered, looking at the tree ever slightly more longingly.

"Come on then, you're cracking the eggs."

10:30 A.M.:

All the girls were downstairs and in loose, baggy pajamas. Jeongyeon was showing off the new PJs she got yesterday, with little multicolored bells all over. Mina was working the kitchen ever since she got up at 10, and refused to leave until everyone tried her new pastry recipes.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells," Jeongyeon tried to explain to Dahyun and Tzuyu, who were cracking up.

Jihyo was off somewhere arranging their next trip to town, and Sana looked too sleepy to talk.

Chaeyoung was sitting on Nayeon's lap on a comfy-looking rocking chair, talking with wide grins and occasionally giggling.

Momo watched it all with indifference, realizing that drowsiness couldn't be used as an excuse forever. But she didn't know what to do. Talk to Sana? Try to forget that she was the only one who knew that Nayeon and Chaeyoung liked each other that way? That she liked Chaeyoung that way? No, she couldn't.

Momo abruptly stood up and started walking towards Nayeon and Chaeyoung. She had tunnel vision – she didn't know what she was doing. Breaking it up, revealing it to the room, and frankly, she didn't care until she was halfway there. A thousand thoughts flew through her brain, and once she again started to rationalize. She instead turned a bit to the left and made her way to the tree and hastily grabbed one of the cards and started reading. Or at least pretended to – she was too mentally frazzled to even make out letters.

It was a whole minute until Tzuyu said: "Are you alright? That one is addressed to me."

Momo looked again: To Chou Tzuyu, you make…

She looked up to 6 confused faces (Sana had headphones in and Mina was still in the kitchen) and quickly gained her footing.

"I know, I was just going to read it aloud to start us off," she must have sounded confident enough, because Tzuyu immediately agreed.

"Yeah, why don't we start reading some letters? I'm excited to see what they wrote for us too!"

"Let's gooo," Dahyun agreed, looking expectantly at Momo until she realized she had to read the letter aloud now.

"Ahem, To Chou Tzuyu, you make my heart whole with your beautiful dancing and singing, and make me laugh like I never have with your variety show content. Keep making me and others happy, Quinn."

Tzuyu looked beyond pleased, and went to the tree to pick out one for another members. She closed her eyes and chose one near the top. Unraveling it, she looked towards Sana, still oblivious to the noise around her. Dahyun tapped her,

"Hey dummy, listen up." Sana looked up, and then at Tzuyu, the only standing member.

"Dear Sana, your heart is as lively as the suns, please don't ever be sad or worried for ONCE always supports and loves, and a merry Christmas to you."

Sana let out a cute smile until Dahyun let her know it was her turn to go. And so it continued, with Mina eventually being called over and all 9 for the moment forgetting their fears, drowning in love from Once. It was only that evening that Tzuyu knocked on Momo's door (Nayeon and Chaeyoung had gone on a walk) and Momo waved her in, that Momo realized once again how not subtle at all she really was. Tzuyu sat on the floor in front of Momo, who was just unfolding her clothes to hang them up in the closet.

"What was that this morning?"


End file.
